SN. R49658

Weight: 7 Pounds

An incredibly great sounding and looking Stratocaster designed by the Mid-Atlantic Territory sales rep' for Fender, Ron Gentry, utilizing the vintage look of a 50's Strat with the modern radius and fretwire that we had Fender's Custom Shop start doing for us 10 years ago. Production is limited and availability is via only 3 key Fender Custom Shop dealers in the Mid Atlantic region.

Loaded from the factory with Lindy Fralin Blues Special Stratocaster pickups!

•  Model: Team Built, Limited Edition, '56 Stratocaster® Custom Closet Classic
• Color: Lake Placid Blue nitro-celluose lacquer
• Body wood: Southern Swamp Ash (sort for lightweight option)
• Neck wood: One Piece, AA Flame Maple
• Neck shape: '56 Soft V
• Radius: 9.5”
• Nut width: 1.65”
• Fretwire: 6105
• Neck finish: Mild Relic® with thin, tinted lacquer
• Hardware color: Chrome / Nickel
• Tuning keys: Vintage Nickel Kluson style
• Bridge: Vintage Style Synchromatic Tremolo
• Pickup setup: S/S/S
• Pickup switching: Custom 5-way
• Controls: Master Volume, Master Tone, Fralin Blender pot
• Pickguard: Parchment
• Plastic parts: Aged White
• Pickups: Lindy Fralin 5% overwound Strat Set
• String gauge: 10-46
• Case: Fender, Custom Shop hardshell with "Custom Shop Limited Edition" embroidered interior lid.

Gorgeous construction showcasing Sprague and Sozo Capacitors, Custom Mercury Magnetics power and output transformers and threaded switch and jack chassis holes for an extremely clean external chassis appearance without any exposed washers or nuts. The amp may be affordable, but no corners have been cut in terms of component quality or cleanliness of construction. This is as good as it gets via tag board, hand-wired construction!

Nearly everyone who has heard the X10 has reserved one. The backlog is growing rapidly with 50+ pre-sold within the first 6 weeks of receiving our first X10......which became my personal amplifier.

"Destined for greatness! Michael Koski's ear for tone is matched only by his design aesthetic.

It's the most amazing, 15 watt, Vox-like amp I have ever experienced and I'm a huge Vox fan. It has all of the detail, clarity and shimmer up top with the glorious low-end bloom of an AC30 as well as a similarly thick and complex overdrive style of that venerable amplifier, but with a bigger low end, even in 112 form, and a point of perfect saturation that comes on at a more reasonable/useable volume level. The primary volume control, or "V1", allows the player to dial in fantastic overdriven tones at low volumes without any fancy power reduction circuitry. Not sure how Mike pulled that one off, but there is an amazing array of clean to distortion tones at many volume levels via the extraordinary interactivity of the "V1" and "V2" controls.

The small size of this combo is very deceptive. When you first see the Xits X10 you are struck with its unique look and beauty, but can't possibly imagine the enormous low end and extraordinary range of tones you are about to experience coming from such a petite and portable combo (26 pounds!).

The Clean tones shimmer and sparkle when the amp is addressed with a delicate touch or set with lower V2 settings, but when you dig in, the thickness of the crunch and overdrive is literally startling. Tight and focused lows with a very broad range that extend musically in to the lower mids give this amp impressive growl to counter the perfect top end.

The "sparkle" switch is nicely tweaked to provide a subtle, but useful dose of additional shimmer for cleaner tones or to enliven a dark guitar.

The *feel* of the X10 is flawless: soft with a wonderful sense of squeezing the notes out without losing its low-end focus and string-to-sting definition.

Michael's choice of woven vinyl "Chilewich" coverings in either "chalk" or "pepper" make for a unique, durable and gorgeously innovative stylistic statement and when combined with his, pseudo hammertoned, aluminum face plate with, decidedly minimalist, stamped control panel lettering, unique grille cloth options and striking logos he's created one of the best looking amp lines I've ever seen without alluding to any previous style other than perhaps something you might find in an alternate universe where a Manhattan art gallery is located somewhere in Scandinavia. In my opinion, he's broken new ground in every area of amp design much the same way that Matchless Amplifiers did in the early 90's.

If this amp sold for $1700.00 it would take me all of 5 minutes of playing it before I was racing to purchase one. It's really *that* good....and it currently sells for under a thousand dollars. I personally know a few builders who would have priced this amp at $2199.00, relying solely on the "I paid a lot so it must be great" crowd, and called it a day. It certainly *could* command that price tag to a decidedly narrower market.

I appreciate Xits builder Michael Koski wanting to keep this amp within reach of musicians, but he has really under priced this one.

This amp receives my "Highly Recommended!!" tag......in fact, I may need to come up with a revised rating system after playing this one!!"

-Stu Carter, owner Fat Sound Guitars

General Description

15 Watts of highly portable XITS Tone. Designed from the ground up to be the best amp in its class at an obtainable price point and boy is it ever!

The X10 is the younger sibling of Ms Sadie. Pure early 60's Tone that responds instantly to your touch.

This design is a single channel 15-Watt Combo with three 12AX7 driven gain stages and an EL84 power section. The X10’s tones range from chimey clean to fully saturated drive. The master-volume allows both pre and power amp gain and levels to be blended allowing unlimited tone and loudness combinations

X10 Tube Configuration


• V1 ECC83/12AX7 First & Second Gain Stage
• V2 ECC83/12AX7 Third Gain Stage
• V3 ECC83/12AX7 Phase Inverter
• V4-5 EL84 Power Section – Matched Pair

User Controls

• Volume 1
• Treble
• Bass
• Volume 2 (Post Phase Inverter Master Volume)
• Bright Switch

Mains Control Switch

• ON - UP (LAUREL WREATH)
• STANDBY - DOWN
• OFF – CENTER POSITION

Cabinet


The X10 Cabinet has been designed to provide a big sound in a small package. Cabinet Dimensions are 17-0” x 17.0” x 10-1/2” and the weight is a mere 26 pounds despite the huge transformers which are custom wound Mercury Magnetics units. The back opening has been sized and positioned to allow the perfect blend of sound from both the front and back of the loudspeaker. The cabinet is constructed out of ½” European Baltic Birch Plywood with a floating baffle so the cabinet resonates and comes to life as the amplifier's volume is increased.

Chilewich Woven Vinyl is “welded” to the cabinet shell to provide unmatched scuff and abrasion resistance.

El Dorado, hand-stitched leather handle made to Xits specifications

The standard mains configuration is for 120 VAC – 60Hz. All XITS products can be set up for international voltages.

The floating Xits logo is pure Manhattan in its design and one of the best looking logos we've ever seen......icing on the cake.

Speaker

Celestion Greenback standard (Celestion Blue or Austin Speaker Works STR-70 ceramic also available for an additional $200.00)
External Cab out with selectable 8/16 Ohm switch. Standard 112 combo speaker is 16 Ohms allowing for an additional 16 Ohm Xits extension cab to be run with switch set to 8 Ohms.

Highly Recommended!!™
Fat Fave Award for Excellence

Customer Comment

"Stu,

Thanks so much for spending so much time with Gary and me today and guiding us into the entirely intoxicating world of XITS tone. I haven't been this excited about an amp since the first day I heard the Swart Atomic Space Tone. The X10 really seems like a game changer at that price point...... I loved the ambient kind of clean tone stuff you played today and I would definitely urge you to record several clips of you playing that kind of stuff and then startle the listener with the surprise of your digging in and getting that incredibly thick saturated tone...wow, that was quite an arresting sonic experience.

It was very cool when you were demoing the amp and absolutely everyone in the store turned around and slowly walked toward the amp like tonal zombies transfixed and transformed by the sheer beauty of the tones...I have never seen anything like that...a great moment that almost seemed like a commercial come to life...

The X10 seemed a perfect volume and I was really impressed at how well it did with lower volumes."

Eric C.
Richmond, VA

"I keep reloading the fatsound site in anticipation of more clips. This amp sounds like it will get the tones in my head. How they managed to cram OCD, schizophrenia-lite and general anxiety disorder into a 1-12 combo amp I'll never know...

This thing sounds nasty gorgeous."

nostatic9 (TGP username)
Page 7 of  The Gear Page Xits thread

"Hey Stu,

I just wanted to write and let you guys know that you hit it out of the park again!  I've been playing my new XITS X10 since I got home, and to be honest, it sounds even better here than it did in the store!  And the sound!  Everything from pristine, shimmery cleans, to "lord of thunder" distortion the likes of which make me want to pull out a solo Jeff Tweedy style!  We're talking going from complete control to utter chaos with the twist of a volume knob, or even just by digging in a bit harder.  I can't wait to take this thing to practice next week! 

Anyhow, you've never done me wrong in the 9 years I've been working with you to fill my gear needs, and it looks like you're still in top form (no surprise there)!  Thanks again to you, Mike, and Mike for all of your help and patience with me while I was waiting for the amp!

Thanks again,"

Brian S.
Raleigh, NC
 

New from Tortuga Effects, the remarkable Rain Delay!

Full review should be posted by 2-4-2010

From Tortuga's Webste

The Rain Delay is a classic, digital echo and delay that will really get the crowd cheering. With dual, switchable rate controls, the Rain Delay can act like both a small room echo and a long solo delay at the push of a foot switch. It can also be run at 9v with the internal battery or external power supply for more of an analog warmth or up to 18v with external power for more headroom and clarity. Unlike in Baseball, this Rain Delay is a real crowd pleaser.

Features

• 100% True Bypass
• 9volt or 18volt operation
• Hand-Wired

The Z Brake Lite Attenuator will be right at home mounted inside your combo amp. Perfect for dialing in your combo to its sweet spot while dialing back the volume level.
The Brake Lite works with any tube amp up to 45 watts and can be used with 4, 8, or 16, ohm loads. Very simple to install, the Brake Lite mounts with 2 screws and has a hardwired speaker cable to plug into the amp chassis. Plug the speaker into the Brake Lite and you are ready to go.

Please note: the Brake Lite is NOT a stand alone unit and needs to be mounted in a combo for proper operation.

We sell an average of 10 of these per week and have a less than 1% return ratio making it the most successful and loved Attenuator we have ever carried and we have carried almost all of them. It just, simply works beautifully and without tonal degradation.

5 3/8" high x 5 1/2" wide x 1 3/4" deep (including attachment ears)

Highly Recommended!!™
Fat Fave Award for Excellence

Customer Comments

"Hi Mike,

Just wanted to thank you for the help you gave me yesterday. The "Brake-Lite" is everything you said it was and more. The Ghia and the Mazerati both keep their tone even with the Brake-Lite @ 4. This is an amazing tool. ......Anyway thanks again for all your help in making my 1st 3.5hr trip to Fat Sound Guitars an awesome experience, I will definitely be back soon!

Best Regards,"

Jeremy B.
Maiden, NC